1 November, 2004

Campaigning For Re-Election

On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, this article sums up the
absurdity known as campaigning:
Lie and You Thrive. It's
all about sound bites, spin, deception, and marketing -- all wrapped up in a
thick layer of patriotism.

Perhaps never before has a president sought a second term by endlessly hyping
the catastrophic failures of his first four years in office. On both 9/11 and
Iraq, the Bush campaign team long ago decided that truth is a luxury American
voters can no longer afford.

Will Bush be permitted to lie his way to four more years of
power over Americans? It is almost inconceivable that the average American would
trust a used car dealer who had engaged in the type of stunts that Bush has
pulled to deceive us on both 9/11 and Iraq.

And yet, because Americans are continually reminded of their
patriotic duty to think well of their rulers, Bush has a good chance to exploit
people's trust to further shackle them.

Cancel The Election

The outcome of Washington Redskins home football games has
correctly predicted the winner of every U.S. presidential election since 1936.

On 31 October 2004, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Redskins
in Washington, 28-14, which - if the established pattern holds true - predicts
that Democratic challenger John Kerry will unseat incumbent President George W.
Bush in the upcoming presidential election.

See, football is good for
something.

Posted on 1 November, 2004

1 Year Performance

1 year performance video takes Sam Hsieh's One Year Performance
1978-1979 (aka Cage Piece) and updates it in a number of ways.

First,
we've taken the act of living in a cell and transformed it into images of
ourselves living in a cell. These video clips are edited dynamically at runtime
so that every viewer sees a slightly different cut. The clips are organized
according to the clock: if you access the piece in the morning, you see us doing
morning things; if you access late at night, you see us sleeping.

Second, we've transferred the onus of a 1 year commitment to
the work from the artist to the viewer. The piece will be realized fully only
when a viewer runs it for one year.

Long Fingernails

Windows Backup

If you're running Windows XP Home Edition, you won't find
Backup Utility on the Start menu or even in Add Or Remove Programs. It is
included, though; you just need to know where to look. To install Backup
Utility, you need your Windows XP Home Edition CD. Use Windows Explorer to open
the ValueaddMsftNtbackup folder, and then double-click Ntbackup.msi.

Mission accomplished.

Update: The Windows XP Backup program is installed by default
with Windows XP Pro. Based on user surveys, Microsoft decided (incorrectly, in
my opinion) that anyone using Windows XP Home Edition wouldn't be interested in
the Backup program. That's why you have to manually install it.

Thirty-Seven

It
may be that 37 gets used a lot because it somehow "feels random". I imagine
psychologists pondering theories and performing experiments on destitute grad
students, to figure out why people might choose this number over a less
random-sounding number like 36.

But I think it's more fun to figure that 37 must be some sort
of mystical number, and that all the "coincidental" occurrences of 37 in the
world aren't really coincidences...

He also has an extensive collection of images that feature 37.

Posted on 1 November, 2004

A Big Book

Turning the pages involved a short walk. If you'd
like to own this baby, it's available for only $10,000 on
Amazon.

How big
is it?

According to Guinness World Records, at over five by
seven feet (and 133 pounds), this staggeringly beautiful photographic book is
the largest published book in the world--about one of the world's smallest
countries.

Posted on 1 November, 2004

Attention iPod Owners

Apple just devoted
some expensive engineering hours to updating iTunes to version 4.7, with the
"improvement" of breaking iPod Download. That's right -- Apple's spending money
seeing to it that features are removed from your iPod. Thanks a whole lot,
Apple.

The Shack Up Inn

Mississippi's
oldest B&B -- and that's bed and beer, y'all. "We don't fool around with any
fixing of breakfasts," said Bill Talbot, part owner of the inn.

Talbot, with four friends, transported two sharecroppers'
cabins to the Hopson plantation in 1998 with the "vague idea of attracting
writers and musicians seeking inspiration and a place to work, and restoring a
little bit of Southern history while we were at it."

But in the seven years it's been open for business, the Shack
Up Inn has been successful beyond its owners' weirdest dreams, despite the fact
that the owners don't advertise, the inn isn't listed in the Clarksdale phone
book, and there isn't even a sign for the inn anywhere in town or on the road
that leads to Hopson plantation.

Folding A Shirt Revisited

But I recently discovered a
riveting how-to-fold-a-shirt video from Japan that's been blogging about for
months. Using a simple method, anyone can pinch and flip a tee into a perfect
rectangle in less than three seconds (see below). I quickly became obsessed,
showing off my new skill at parties. Would this suit my holiday gift-folding
needs? Was this method a welcome revolution or common heresy? I decided to
submit it to the scrutiny of those more adroit than I.